Great article. I put a link to it in my blog post commenting on LaRussa's retiring. Interestingly enough, LaRussa and McGwire will be eligible for the Hall during the same year (though different voters)
http://fatpastor.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/if-larussa-goes-to-hof-why-not-mcgwire/

[...] right in? No, he never used performance enhancing drugs, but he certainly benefited from them. It has been argued that LaRussa is the most complicit manager of the steroid era. Tony LaRussa managed Mark McGwire in two different stops – his two most successful, I [...]

There is a young player, Will Calhoun, 3 time all American, just out of college, playing with the Ft Worth Cats Minor League club in the American Association. I was surpirsed to see him show up there. Phenomenal 3d baseman, makes better plays than most major league infielders. He out sprints everyone else on the club and has range that's unbelievable. He also pitches. This guy can hit off major league pitching I'm certain. He rarely strkes out, hits the ball hard everytime he's up. He's only been playing for Ft Worth a few weeks. Just one of those super players that dropped between the floor boards I guess. I'm told he worked out for the Rangers and Braves and both teams liked him really well?????????

[...] an employer against an employee in a battle over a one-year contract. Back in 2005, I wrote a piece examining just that aspect of arbitration, and it’s still relevant today. The arbitration process remains a prickly [...]

[...] of baseball and those close to the former slugger are as expected. Tony LaRussa, as he has done since day one, defended his man, and Bud Selig just sounded awkward about it. “I am pleased that Mark McGwire [...]

[...] that McGwire never used steroids. In the March 16, 2006 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, La Russa still defended McGwire: La Russa, who maintains McGwire strengthened himself legally under supervision of current Cardinals [...]

[...] Then, after steroid accusations became prevalent, he muted himself. He stopped whining. Save for a one-time foray into cross-dressing, he was a complete non-personality. The same could be said of Sammy Sosa, who was transformed from [...]